Water charge levies for dummies

COUNCILLOR Denise Knight has asked if council could prepare ‘a short spiel for idiots like me’ on the council’s proposed new water and wastewater development servicing plans and fees.

These plans affect the charges levied on all ratepayers for water use and sewer access.

Coffs Harbour City Council will adopt new development servicing plans in June 2010 with the recommended new charges for each new equivalent tenancy (lot) $8690 for water and $8309 for sewer, a total of $16,999 per lot, amended to reflect quarterly CPI movements to the date of adoption. The current price is water $6952 and sewer $4748 ($11,700).

For householders, the recommended increase in sewerage rates is 1 per cent for 2010-11 and a further 1.5 per cent for the following four years and for water 0.5 per cent for the next five years, excluding inflation.

The current DSP was adopted in 2003 and since then the Regional Water Supply, Water Treatment Plant, Deep Sea Release and Water Reclamation and Re-use Projects have been completed and the cost of these is included in the draft revised plans.

In the next few weeks council will advertise the drafts DSPs for 30 days; consult the development industry in writing and will report back to council on outcomes and submissions. At last Thursday’s meeting Cr Knight said it appeared only developers read development servicing plans and many people had difficulty understanding them.

Cr Kerry Hines asked if it was feasible to make the figures available on the website and the Acting Director of City Services, Jenni Eakins, said they would be available on the website during the exhibition period.

Deputy mayor Cr Bill palmer said the development of the new water supply system and the water reclamation plant was ‘the most dramatic improvement in this city in the past 10 years’.

General manager Stephen Sawtell said the council had just come out of a $300 million spend which had made it ‘the most renewed council’.